Military robots - a glimpse from today and tomorrow

The military forces always tried to use new gadgets and weapons for reducing the risk of their casualties and to defeat their enemies. With the development of sophisticated technology, it mostly relies on the high tech weapons or machinery being used. Robotics is one of the hot fields of modern age in which the nations are concentrating upon for military purposes in the state of war and peace. They have been in use for some time for demining and rescue operations but now they are under research for combat or spy missions. Today's modern military forces are using different kinds of robots for different applications ranging from mine detection, surveillance, logistics and rescue operations. In the future they will be used for reconnaissance and surveillance, logistics and support, communications infrastructure, forward-deployed offensive operations, and as tactical decoys to conceal maneuver by manned assets. In order to make robots for the unpredicted cluttered environment of the battlefield, research on different aspects of robots is under investigation in laboratories to be able to do its job autonomously, as efficiently as a human operated machine can do. Latest techniques are being investigated to have advanced and intelligent robots for different operations. This paper presents different kinds of robotic technologies being used in all the three main forces, Navy, Army and Air. Some of the robots discussed are also being used in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, also, the robots that are under investigation in laboratories for future military operations. These robots are under investigation for autonomous and cooperative environment. We focus our attention on the uses of robots in war and peace as well as their impact on society.